Intro
Probably you’ve seen a few posts on popular sites in your thematic niche marked as ‘guest posts’ and wondered why anyone would bother to create content for some third-party site. Well, because it’s a very useful strategy that can bring you ample results in various SEO areas, from link building to traffic boost. Yes, you do have to create a piece of good content for free (or even pay a small fee for it to be published) and yes, it is worth it in all regards.
The only big reservation is that a site you plan to post on needs to be very reputable and popular, so that you tap into traffic and high authority. Then your undertaking will pay back 100% and beyond.
So in this review, we’ll look at workable methods of finding such reliable sites worthy of your time and efforts. So read on to learn all the ins and outs of the process.
What Are Guest Posts?
As the name suggests, they are thematically appropriate and informative posts written for a site by guests, in contrast to the content created by in-house experts and writers. Why does it matter? Because this practice is beneficial both for site owners and contributing guests and you should have it on your radar and use it when possible.
Guest posting has earned a bit of a bad rep recently, mostly because of not very good (and even AI-generated) content peddled as guest posting and because some webpages simply charge a fee and post whatever random text is provided to them, regardless of quality and topic relevance.
So this is a first insight: guest posting is not about the quantity of random posts you can distribute. It is about high-quality content that engages the target audience of a hosting site, boosts authority, and grows a good link mass for you (and for them, for that matter).
Why Do You Need Guest Posts?
The mentioned insight is only the tip of the iceberg. You need to use these guest blogging opportunities regularly for several important reasons, all directly related to your SEO and link-building efforts.
- First and foremost, you offer guests content with a link leading to your site already embedded. Guest posting brings you good backlinks and authority boost.
- Guest content attracts people to your site, thus driving targeted traffic in.
- Useful content on third-party sites builds topical authority for your own site.
- You unlock a new audience and create a community around your content and your page.
- Your page gets valuable exposure and SEO boost that does not look like an orchestrated effort to algorithms.
Although some experts claim that Google now has too many rules that limit the opportunities for and the impact of guest posting, take this opinion with a grain of salt.
The guidelines provided by Google are rather vague and usually they cover links in content posted on popular and reputable sites as fully acceptable. So with due care and a bit of work, your guest posting will bring you the SEO results you need.
Yet special care should be exercised in the selection of sites to post on.
Whether you pay a fee or post for free, a website needs to pass a rigorous inspection to be deemed safe and useful for your link building strategy.
Criteria To Choose Websites For Guest Postings
The first obvious point of attention is the authority of the site. If it has a good authority level, it can pass it on to your page via a link in a post. But this is not the only consideration. There are several important criteria that will help you find guest blogging opportunities that will deliver the best result for your efforts:
- as mentioned, authority
- organic traffic
- good quality content
- active engagement of audience (visible through shares, likes, and comments, where possible)
- niche-matching
- a significant number of followers on social media.
As you see, all criteria revolve around an active audience interested in the topic that will read your post and, hopefully, engage with a link and follow it to your own page.
Since authority can be doctored by some technical tricks (at least temporarily), you need to check all other metrics to know that the site is worth the effort.
In this task, Semrush is your trusted assistant:
- in your account, find SEO tab and in the LINK BUILDING dropdown find ‘Backlink Analytics’
- enter the domain and hit Analyze
- you’ll see the Overview page with all essential metrics neatly put on display
- Check the authority metrics first. If this score is OK, it means that the site has a healthy stream of organic traffic, is informative and persuasive enough to accumulate tons of good-quality links, and is made for real users. To make sure that the authority reflects the real state of affairs, look through the key metrics on the Overview page -backlinks, referring domains, organic traffic, visits, they are all presented in numbers. If they match the authority metrics, then the site is an excellent opportunity for posting.
- Next, move to Network Graph. If it features all green dots, it means that all parameters are fine and the site will be a valuable addition to your SEO network. If there are some red dots, or red flags, then in the SEO tab, hit Domain Overview and paste the domain you analyze, then hit Search. In the results, you’ll see the root of the problem – poor traffic, questionable referring domains, etc. If there are red flags for a domain, the best decision is to skip it and look for a better opportunity.
But to analyze domains and pick the best of the best, you have to have a pool of sites eligible for guest posting first. And here’s how to find them professionally and successfully.
Top 7 Methods on How to Find Guest Posting Sites
1. Employ Suitable Operators in Google Search
Operators are special symbols and phrases that help you make the search focused and efficient. Use your niche keyword and queries related to guest posting plus appropriate operators (“ “ is an operator, in this case). For example, you can use such search strings as:
Your keyword inurl: “guest blogger”
Your keyword inurl: “guest post”
These searches will bring you the sites that have these keywords in titles or URLs of their pages. So basically you barge right into thematic entries that explain how to become a guest blogger for them.
For example, if you search:
white hat SEO inurl: “guest post”
you’ll find pages that welcome content from other bloggers on the topic of white hat SEO (because they have these keywords in their URLs, which means a lot). So you can start filtering through their authority and other important metrics right away.
The same principle will work if you create a search string:
allintitle: your keyword + guest post
where all important words are to be found in the page title.
Obviously, if a page features a headline that talks about guest posting on your topic, it’s worth researching how you can become a guest blogger for them. These sites state explicitly that they feature guest posts and encourage you to try and do it. So do try, indeed.
Here’s a list of useful search string and operators to use (just a few examples, you can come up with your variations that reflect your exact intentions or needs):
Your keyword “guest author”
Your keyword “guest blogger”
Your keyword “guest post”
Your keyword “guest post opportunities”
Your keyword “become our contributor”
Your Keyword “contribute to our site”
Your keyword “submit content”
Your keyword “guest posting guidelines”
Your keyword “submit your content”
Your keyword “writers wanted”
Your keyword “suggest a topic”
Your keyword “write for us”
Your keyword “guest article”
Operators narrow down the search scope and bring you only the results that feature the exact matches in the text. It means that you will find pages that do invite writers or ask for content.
When you’re done experimenting with operators and search, evaluate sites carefully before you actually reach out and start pitching your content. That’s the rule of thumb here.
2. Outcompete the Competitors: Look at Their Backlinks Sources
This method is a combo because you get to explore sites that are already tested by your competitors for quality and that bring real traffic and authority growth (otherwise they would be posting there). So that’s a totally fair game if you try to outsmart them with better content and more successful community building.
Pick the top competitors you want to beat and employ your favorite SEO tools, whether it’s Semrush, Moz Link Explorer or the Ahrefs toolkit.
How to find your top competitors if you don’t know them yet? Run a search in Google by your keywords and pick not thematic sites but personal blogs. Usually, such blogs are run under personal names as a way of personal brand building.
Now open the tool of your choice, go to Domain Overview or a similar feature and paste the URL of their blog.
Now you find the Backlinks section and see what’s inside.
Not all links will be heading back from guest posts, but some definitely will.
How to tell them apart? The link anchors will most probably include the name of the competitors’ website or personal name, like ‘John Doe’s Guide to Link Building’, or ‘Jane Doe’s website’. These are the anchors usually allowed by hosting websites (because more generic or niche anchors will distract from the similar content available on the hosting website).
Now you make a list of the most advantageous websites out of all pages available and check their policy of guest posting. It may be the creation of posts on a given topic, or posting your high-quality content for a small fee (that’s also possible).
In any case, these sites are worth the effort, so prepare for pitching carefully.
3. Leverage Social Media Opportunities: Explore X (Former Twitter) and LinkedIn
Why is this method of finding guest posting opportunities important? Because it allows you to hit two goals at once. If you find a reputable page that accepts guest posts, you will get a spot on their website and a promo in social media, because your post will be reposted there. Plus, these results are fresher and more pressing, meaning that these sites are actively recruiting the guest bloggers and experts and you won’t have to persuade them to accept your content.
To spot this opportunity, go to the social network, let’s say it’s X. Open the tab Explore and in the search field type the search string focused on guest posts. For example, you type this:
white hat SEO guest post
This step will bring you a bunch of pages that promote fresh guest posts in your professional niche. Check the sites that run these pages and pick the ones that look most promising.
The same process of searching applies to LinkedIn. It will bring you a list of sites that maintain a perfect professional reputation and will pass this reputation to your page.
So, first, you do not choose social media pages – you choose full-fledged sites that have a strong social media presence. Second – you still have to assess the authority and usefulness of these sites before you reach out to them.
4. Look at Industry Blogs that are Popular and Authoritative
Not only websites accept guest posts and deserve your attention. Blogs that position themselves as professional media and deploy a diversified and sustainable content development strategy usually have their devoted audience. It means that their DA is quite high and traffic streams do not lag behind.
The difference between a site and a blog? A blog is usually personalized while a site operates under the general branding. Plus, a site can provide services, do business, and run a blog section, while a blog is primarily focused on content creation and dissemination.
How to find a good blog to pitch your content to: use the trusted Google search in the format “your professional niche + blog” or “your keyword + blog”. Look through the results, choose blogs that regularly update their content, check their guidelines for posting, and go ahead. And yes, don’t forget to check the basic metrics of these blogs first. This step is a must. Always.
5. Follow in the Footsteps of Guest Bloggers in Your Niche
If you know a few names of people who are considered experts in the field, you can follow their example and try to post where they post. Since they value their reputation and choose carefully the platforms for guest blogging, you’ll arrive at a selection of high-DA pages that open the path to a wide and engaged audience.
To find guest bloggers of high reputation and to see the sites where they contribute, you can:
1) Run a Google search “blogger’s name + guest post” and see what sites feature this phrase. It means they accept posts from guest bloggers and so you can test the waters there.
2) Look through the profile of that blogger and find out where they contributed. Usually, this information is presented prominently like “Contributed articles to HubSpot, Entrepreneur, and TechCrunch”, thus advertising and confirming the expertise and popularity of a given blogger. So make a list of sites that accepted their guest posts and decide where to pitch first.
6. Directly Pitch Sites That Are Authoritative In Your Niche
Alongside searching for free guest posting sites that may accept your posts, you can try and make a bold move. Pick the authoritative websites in your field that you’d like to be featured on and email them asking if they accept good-quality posts for a fee.
The point is that the sites are really reputable, so being posted there is a great ROI despite the cost. You get a positive boost to your site traffic and reputation and earn a bit of good-quality link juice. The reputation of the site guarantees it.
Not every pitched site will respond or agree, but if you offer to create the content to their liking and in the format they need, some of them may give you a chance. This kind of paid posts placement is a real win.
And if you do it right and their audience likes your contribution, you’ll become the one on the speed dial when they need another post on the topic. You build your reputation and your useful network with each successful posting.
7. Cheat Sheet: Lists of Reliable Sites That Accept Guest Posts
And now the best part. There are whole directories (or listings) of popular websites that do accept guest posts. You need to look through these directories, find the sites in your area of interest, and separate them into paid guest posting sites and free guest-posting options.
Not all sites will possess top DA or tons of traffic, but they are decent enough to give you backlinks and prop your page up. You’ll have to look at the metrics of the sites that interest you most to decide on the priority sites for pitching. But when some of them don’t accept your posts, move to others on the list. You’ll find your community eventually.
Mind that we are not affiliated with any of these sites, we provide the lists for your convenience only. So you’ll have to pick and evaluate sites and negotiate with them independently.
List of 400+ websites on diverse topics that accept guest posts (paid and/or free)
150+ Sites that bring traffic and authority boost
Sites that welcome free guest posts
Conclusions
As you see, there are several ways to find good sites for guest posting. By good, we mean sites that will actually improve your ranking and grow the link mass for your page.
Whether it’s a paid placement or a free opportunity, the thematic match and content quality are the key. When you play these cards right, you prove your worth and secure spots for further postings (and link building). And once you gain a spot on a reputable resource, you can wield it as proof of your professional expertise and win more opportunities for guest posting with ease and confidence. You only have to begin, and the road will take you to the desired results!